Birthdays
by Ecrire
Summary: Team Seven fic. It's the thought that counts.


Found this lurking on the HD, so I brushed it off and it turned out good so here it is. Set vaguely before my A Reason to Stay story.

Disclaimer: If I could create characters as cool as these, you would all be worshipping me instead of 'you know who'.

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**Birthdays**

**Sasuke' apartment, Konoha**

Sasuke recounted the depressingly small amount of money on his table. It really wasn't enough to buy a decent present but there wasn't anything he could do about it. The Council had decided that he was old enough to cover the payments for his apartment by himself, but not old enough to inherit his family's fortune. Add to that the fact that he was still restricted to C and D level missions and he barely had enough money each month to make ends meet.

If it was a trick to force him out of his current apartment it just might work. If it was meant to encourage him to allow the sale of the Uchiha Compound they could choke on it. Even since the big meeting that had decided just how his reintergration into Konoha would go it'd been like this. The constant discrimination grinding him down, making an already bitter pill almost impossible to swallow.

Some members had made it painfully obvious that their interests lay in aquiring the well placed land that was his by inheritance, others his money, yet more his...genes.

Sasuke shuddered. Just the thought of perpetuating the cursed Uchiha line gave him cold shivers.

Back to the matter at hand, money. More precisely a birthday present, for Naruto. He didn't even really know why he was bothering, he certainly didn't have the money to spare. He'd never bothered with a present up till now. So clearly it was Sakura's fault.

Problem was if he still had anything of his family's it was thanks to her. Technically the moment he went missing nin, all the property and wealth of his clan should've been taken by the Council. It was what'd almost happened after Itachi...left. But The Third had reminded them that Sasuke would one day be of age and was, afterall, still an Uchiha.

The method of his own disapearance had slowed things down but not forever. Eventually someone brought up the issue of the Uchiha fortune and lands. And Sakura had stepped up to bat. Not alone of course, but with the tatic approval of the Fifth, and some indepth knowledge of Konoha law she'd managed to put enough roadblocks on the transfer of the Uchiha lands that at the end of three years they were still there buried under a mountain of red tape.

Whenever Sasuke asked Sakura for the precise details she just smiled and winked at him saying it didn't matter.

It meant that he felt indebted to her, for alot of things, including the roof over his head.

So, the present.

He was so pissed at himself for worrying about something as useless as a present that he almost missed the little sound that gave her away. He made it to the kitchen, but too late. Not that he wanted to catch her, because that would mean he'd have to talk to her, but you didn't just let people like her wander around your house without making a show of being alert. People like her had a habit of taking over your life if you weren't careful.

She'd left a little white card, and for a moment he wondered why all the secrecy, but then he didn't bother to try and figure out his teammates more complicated sides.

He flipped it over and read the note.

As usual Sakura had found the perfect way around the actual present problem.

Snorting in what he supposed was disgust, Sasuke flicked the card into the rubbish and sauntered back into the main room.

**Hallway outside Naruto's apartment, Konoha**

Sasuke tapped on the door unsure that anyone could actually hear him over the din coming from the inside.

The door was flung open almost immediately and Sasuke was confronted by an angry Sakura.

"You're late!" She complained as Sasuke pushed past.

"So, I'm here aren't I. Besides what did I miss?" Sasuke asked slipping out of his sandals and lining them up with the others.

"Well the 'surprise' part of the 'surprise party'." Sakura said still a little miffed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, hiding behind a chair to jump out and yell surprise at a trained ninja didn't strike him as fun. He caught Shikamaru's eye and for a second all was frosty and quiet, then Shikamaru turned away and noise rolled back into Sasuke's ears. Sasuke let out the breath he didn't know he was holding and exchanged a brief glance with Chouji who shuffled the already yawning shinobi towards the buffet table.

Sakura bit her lip watching the exchange. Naruto noticed the new arrival and came over a wide smile on his face.

"Sasuke-teme you made it too!" Naruto said happily, stopping and staring at Sasuke from a distance.

Sasuke tossed a packet at Naruto who caught it and held it up. It was a packet of instant ramen.

"Happy birthday idiot." Sasuke said slouching against the entranceway wall.

Naruto grinned.


End file.
